Reading your attached personal story, I'm not sure the girl's race was a reason for why you were approached, but I think the rest stands. Unfortunately, as your poem so rightly hit, things being sold as making society better and more fair - like the "me too" movement - often end up taking on a less healthy agenda than advertised.

Just recently, two people I know were falsely ostracized from a community - one losing their job - over what very much appears to be a false accusation. The one whom lost their job wasn't even accused of anything other than trusting a friend whom denied accusations of sexual predation. Fair is certainly being lost in the fray right now. Innocent to proven guilty is dying and making way for rule by a court of public opinion. Very dangerous, especially in a day and age where media can light a wild fire so quickly before people have had time to give it much critical thought. All at the same time, as you and a person in the comment section highlighted, acts of kindness and things that should be normal and healthy - such as smiling at a child - are now being discouraged. It's crazy.

The first two verses were really fluid and perfect together, poetically. The whole of the poem sowed together so well in it's themes.

It's so true, for the world we talk about wanting to actually exist, we must each make our own world a microcosm of the ideal. To say we want "world peace" while sending armies to go get it, or say we want peace in our country while we bite off each other's heads for having differences of opinion, is not getting us anywhere. Meanwhile, to imagine love in such an overly simple way, is to miss it's greatest point and purpose. When love gets hard, it's when it's needed most. Just like when the world appears to be rapidly changing, that's when freedom and choice is needed more than ever. Thank you for your wisdom.

Well said. We are an oligarchy, indeed. It isn't even very concealed anymore, though there are still light mirages that keep up appearances in order to be a buffer for the blame, protecting those most responsible. But the "they" isn't very hard to figure out. Time and time again it's demonstrated, those with the most money have the most power.

"It's not as pretty as it looks." I don't think there's a line that could be written more succinctly at contrasting reality with the way the world is often sold to us when we start out in life. As you said, life is much harder than it's portrayed in those books that are put in our laps. As Paul Simon once wrote, "they give us those nice bright colors, they give us the greens of summers. Makes you think all the world is a sunny day."

I, personally, think the young can handle a little more truth than parents and elders may think, and I suspect we'd be more well adjusted as we grew up. There is surely a shattering period we all are left to recover from, when we're nearly completely shielded from the harsher side of the world while small.

"It Isn't Only Thomas Who Doubts!" That tickled me. But, of course, one of the great questions you are surely not alone in having. You laid it out well. "But we don't see it til we're under sod." If it's okay, I'm going share these few lines I once wrote, with you:

"god i have a question.
is there a method to this madness,
or have we all gone insane?
i'll alleviate blame,

explain?"

I wrote those after my dear friend Vanessa passed away from cancer at the age of 20, following a battle with cancer while dealing with her husband walking away from her (and their child) on the very day she gave birth. From those certain torments, to the way she was treated on many an occasion by the hospital where she went for care, to the ensuing custody battle between her grandparents and the suddenly reappearing ex-husband, it sure made me wonder quite a few things. Especially knowing how sweet a soul she had always been.

I guess, over time, I fell onto the side of there being some kind of method to all life's craziness. Perhaps part of that method, though, is simply that the world is full of people whom are more than robots is a world full of people with various intentions and we're all part of one body, so when part of the body is sick, all will feel pain. Like a human body, those limbs closest to the infection often take on the brunt of the suffering at that time, though no fault of theirs. Maybe that makes sense to you, I don't know. I know it doesn't offer an answer to all of what you're asking, but perhaps it relates at the very core. Either way, I appreciate your write.

I've thought about this recently: Would it better that sadness "comes in waves" or be more spread out evenly across our lives than it seems to be? It does sometimes seem that happiness is just an act of making room for the inevitable next devastation. Perhaps, though, sadness coming in waves is actually mercy, for otherwise we might have lighter but far more frequent doses of tears.

Good write, a point well made in several metaphors and capped off with words that really drive the point and, especially, the feeling home: "I didn't see the graves". Indeed.

Hmm, I wonder what has motivated you to want to move much of your work off the site.

I really loved this writing of yours. It was captivating as much for it's realness, as it was for a journey through a lifetimes feelings grown and shared with another. I'm sorry for the sad side of the story. You told it thoroughly and deeply, though.

I love the concept, it's clearly tapping into a very real experience, but one that is fresh and rare. Some powerful descriptiveness well put into play in portraying the feeling and the environment. Most notable to me being "the voices soared to the arches above, hung on the still spring air, and reached into the very soul of my being."

The only area I could see poem being further advanced would be to give it a bit more of a flow. It reads more as a series of short, connected poems than as one piece. Perhaps that was the intention?

Regardless, the message was delivered and received in a way that drew this reader into it.

It is the role of the giver to be taken. But, there will be givers across your road, too. Between now and then, and always, I hope you aren't too discouraged as to stop giving out of love and help. That love, of course, is okay to mean moving on if you get tread on too hard.

As calsdarembrace said, it is so hard to love in an unrequited manner. But your love was not in vain, because love is something given. It's something that requires, nor should demand, a return to be real. You did your best, gave them the love you felt for them. You did no wrong in that.

I like the theme and direction of your poem : ) It's so tempting to get for ever lost in the imagination, with the imaginary world being capable of busting our chains and limitations, giving us seeming control beyond anything that exists in the real world. But, of course, what of the real world while we're spending all of our time in dreams? What of the dreams that actually could have been? And, does the statue left standing out in the rain not erode, whether we imagine it does or not? Yea, for sure, we have to be wide awake often. Our burden is also our real, wonderfully chiseled story.

Some thoughts for the scheme of your poem. The pairing works very well. I'd love to see you maintain it for the stanza where you speak of the happily ever after. Also, in the previous stanza, I think that moving "possibilities" into the first verse might work better. The last verse, though, works perfectly as a single line. It's a very nice finishing touch.

This is an incredible work, sir. If time is taken to walk between the pages of newspapers, the narrative seems to place our feet right in the midst of this very vale you speak of. You know, when I crumble it up and throw it away, most days all I see is the wonders of the hills and the mountains around me.

Your heart didn't betray you, even if your expectations did. To love another, even if devastation is the eventual outcome, gives us some of the best days of our lives. I hope you don't die inside, but can find a place where - even amidst the terrible pain you have to go through for this - you can find solace in what love was truly worth. For now, I'm so sorry for you having to make this discovery. I hope time will reward you for all of the patience you tried to show, and love you gave. Take care.